# security without proggers

RavenStar (wec@cs.buffalo.edu)
Tue, 29 Oct 1996 09:13:07 PST

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    There are *always* security holes.  I know of at least one that used to
    be fairly prevalent that would allow a player to recycle anything he/she
    could move, and I've heard horror stories about guests getting prog bits,
    etc.

    The whole point is that when you're dealing with computers in general,
    there's always a way around whatever barriers someone puts up.  While
    restricting prog bits is probably a good way to reduce your risk of some
    malicious progger blowing something up, I've often found that
    restrictions like that often give hackers the only reason they need to
    find security holes in the first place:  to know they can out-smart
    you..I outta know..I'm a hacker-type myself. ;P

    Anyway...I've found that the best way to keep idiots from going nuts and
    crashing your MOO is to a) make sure your system is as programmatically
    secure as you can, and b) don't give them a reason to in the first
    place (read: don't be an anal-retentive wizard).

    RavenStar

    +---------------------------+-------------------------------------------+
    |  Bill Crossley	    | http://www.servtech.com/public/raven      |
    |  raven@servtech.com       | "Scooby-Doo your weapons of war!"		|
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